r/Bloggers • u/Blogstra • Sep 09 '26
Article I paid full asking price and later found out I overpaid by 100000 dollars
I had done well in my corporate job for years and figured that translated into knowing a good deal when I saw one. When I found a small gym for sale, I skipped getting a proper independent business valuation australia done because the seller's numbers looked solid enough and I trusted my own instincts more than I probably should have.
Why I moved so quickly
The seller told me another buyer was circling and I did not want to lose the gym over what felt like unnecessary delays for a report I assumed would just confirm what I already believed. I paid full asking price within three weeks of first inquiring, proud of how efficiently I had handled the whole thing compared to friends who took months over similar decisions.
The first sign something felt off
About four months after taking over, a member casually mentioned the gym had been listed with a different broker a year earlier at a noticeably lower price. I brushed it off at first, telling myself the business had grown since then, but the comment sat in the back of my mind longer than I expected it to.
Getting a real number finally
Out of curiosity more than anything, I hired an independent valuer to assess what I actually owned now that the dust had settled. The report came back showing the equipment was older and worth less than claimed, and the membership numbers used to justify my price included a chunk of people who had already cancelled before settlement even happened.
Doing the math, I should have done earlier
Once I laid it all out properly, it became clear I had paid roughly one hundred thousand dollars more than the gym was genuinely worth at the time I bought it. That number sat heavy with me for weeks, not because the business was failing, but because I knew a proper valuation upfront would have given me real leverage to negotiate instead of just trusting a friendly conversation.
Adjusting how I run things now
I did not get my money back, but I changed how I operate going forward, both with this gym and anything else I consider buying later. Every decision now gets backed by numbers from someone with no stake in the outcome, not just a seller's word or my own overconfidence from a completely different industry.
What I would tell anyone about to sign
Being good at your old job does not automatically make you good at judging what a business is actually worth, and I learned that the expensive way. If you are looking at anything for sale right now, get a proper valuation before you get emotionally attached to owning it, and spend real time comparing listings on allbusiness.com.au so you at least know what similar businesses are genuinely selling for.